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Bunsch of Munsch: A Bunsch of Reviews

It's coming down to the wire for The 2nd Canadian Books Challenge. Since I'm far behind, I decided to raid my daughter's shelves for some quick Canadiana. (It's not cheating. John told me to!) Who better than Robert Munsch? Loved by so many Canadian kids. We went to see Robert Munsch a few years ago and he was very entertaining. It's too bad that his recent health problems will keep him from performing for awhile.Look at Me!: Madison goes to the park with her family where a face painter is giving kids free face paintings. Madison tells her, "I want just on my cheek, a small perfect rose that looks really real." The painter does her best and Madison is happy but soon the rose multiples mysteriously until she is covered in roses. Now she just has to get someone to really look at her to see her problem. Very cute story.

Mmm, Cookies: Christopher makes a cookie out of play clay and tricks everyone in his family into eating it. The joke's on him though when his teacher makes a cookie of her own. Christopher definitely gets what he deserves but I'm sure the teacher would be fired if she tried that in real life. Includes a recipe for play clay.

Boo!: A Halloween tale. Lance wants to make his face very, very scary for trick or treating so he paints it himself. It's so bad he has to wear a pillowcase on his head. He goes around scaring people out of their treats until a teen tries the same trick on him. I'm not sure how I feel about a character who scares people unconscious and then raids their fridges but kids seem to like it.

The previous 3 books were illustrated by Michael Martchenko (an awesome illustrator). The next book is illustrated by Sheila McGraw.

Love You Forever: The book that makes Moms cry. A mother rocks her son every night while reciting a special poem. As he grows into a man, she still insists on rocking him. It gets a little Edward Cullen creepy in the middle ("I like to watch you sleep") but turns into a tear jerker at the end.

Muncsch tends to rely on repetitiveness, aka Teletubbie syndrome. This can get on a parent's nerves if they've read the story aloud several times. At least, the kids can pick it up easily and spare the parent a bit. Although I didn't list it here, I prefer his earlier story Millicent and the Wind.

2 comments:

My ABSOLUTE favorite Munsch book is The Paperbag Princess. I also love Millicent and the Wind. And I buy Love You Forever for every new mom I know. I grew up on his books and still have a big stack on my shelf—even if they are repetitive I’ll cherish them and hope they my kids will too one day. Thanks for sparking the memories!

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